Reporter and farmer. [volume] (Webster, Day County, Dakota [S.D.]) 188?-1946, 1887-12-01
N OF CLUSTERS MEN.
Mai. Reno's Story Of Lieut.. Harring-
toms Part In the Disastrous Battle
with Sitting RuiI--A faithful Wife's
Vain Aona.

Harrisburg Special. Mai. N. A. Reno,
whose name is closely associated with that
OF Gen. Custer. who with his troops, was
slaughtered by the Indians in the famous
battle OF the Little Big Horn. Is here on a
visit. He read with intense interest q sto-
ny published in the New York World, which
yividly recalled to him many Of the memo.
ries Of that disastrous fight. The Worlds
story, dated IRON Fort Worth. Tex, il to
the effect that the friends OF Mrs. Grace
Berard Harrington, h mysteriously dis
appeared two years aud nine months ago,
have given up NIL hope Of ever seeing her
again, either dead or alive. Mrs. Harring.
ton Was the yonng vile of Second Lieut..
Henry NJ. Harrington, OF Company c., in
Clusters command. After the terrible fight
with Sitting Bull. Lieut.. Harrington's
name, with those Of several other officers,
was reported among the missing. though the
handsome young officers body was never
iounda among the lead who surrounded Gus.
ter's corpse upon the field. The young
widow could never reconcile herself to the
belief that her husband had really been
killed and long after his friends had num-
bered him among the dead she nursed the
hope that the Indians had spared his life,
by reason OF his manly beauty, and that
he was still living among them in
captivity. This hope she had
often expressed to her friends prior
to her strange disappear ance nearly
three years ago. She was last seen
by living witnesses, so far as known, near
Denton, Tex. She was believed to have
bought n ticket for Fort Worth, though
she was strangely ~reticent as to her move
ments and their motive. Her friends now
believe that the heart broken widow, in
spired by and insane hope of finding her
lost husband, started for the Indian coun-
try, and persisted in the attempt to re-
join him.
A MAI. RENO SAYS.
Mai. Reno, It will be remembered, was
identified with the battle in which Gen.
Custer and his forces we're slaughtered.
He was accused OF cowardice in the fight,
but q court martial vindicated him.
II knew Lieut.. Harrington said Maj.
Reno today. land an elegant fellow he
was. nm strongly of the opinion that he
Is not only dead, but he died at the stake.
After the great battle | and several other
officers, looking through field glasses, saw
tho Indians miles away engaged In the war
dance about three captives. who were tied
to the stake, and my impression is that
Harrington was among the u~nfortunates.
l rode over the field Of the great bat
tie the morning after the fight" continued
Maj. Reno. land superintendent tho burial
OF Custer and his dead comrades. Custer
was shot through the head and through,
the heart, but his scalp was
untouched. He was stripped OF
all his clothing. Harrington was a mag
nifieent specimen OF humanity, and | SAN
no resemblance to him among the dead
whom We buried. The supposition that
he might have been held a captive is alb
surd. Indians make captives OF women,
but never OF men,
The subject OF the massacre warmed Re-
no up. and although. he respects the mem
DRY OF Gen. Custer. It is very emineut that
he regarded the amous fighter ss exceeding
iy injidicious, and not as gallant as be has
a reputation for having been. He
said Custer bore down on the In
disns with his handful OF men for
the purpose OF obtaining oil the credit
himself. THE attack which occa-
stoned the massacre was unwarranted, -
said Reno, because the Indians were the
rightful possessors Of the land. and were en-.
tirely peaceable. Many a brave man fell
in that fight. and all because of Clusters
ambition. When we found the dead men
they lay in such n position as to show
that they had fed alter the first attack,
and the Indians pursued them and shot
them down, for in almost every instance
they were shot in the back. When | came
TO the body OF Tom Custer. q brother Of
the general, and saw that his heart was
cut out, / knew that Rain.in.ths Face had
done ii. for Custer had him imprisoned a
few days before for ths larceny Of q piscs
oil cloth, and Rairiin.the- Face swcxs ven.
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